


The First Blossom Of The Year

by ginkyou



Category: Elisabeth - Levay/Kunze
Genre: (i did my research for this), Death Wears Winter Clothes For The Aesthetic, Flowers, Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, Walks In The Park, Winter, historically accurate moon phases, historically accurate weather
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 11:47:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6004819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ginkyou/pseuds/ginkyou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Death and Rudolf spend a cold February morning together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Blossom Of The Year

**Author's Note:**

> Sidenote and explanation for the lack of explicit valentinesiness: Valentine's Day as we know it today wasn't a thing in Austria until the 20th century.
> 
> This wasn't betaread by anybody, so if you notice any glaring mistakes please tell me. English is a second language for me and I'm always grateful for corrections.

Just like the year before, the winter of 1880/81 was harsh. Thick snow covered Austria. The emperor and his family were kept busy by the flood of pleas their nation sent them, the poorest of their subjects threatening to suffocate under the snow. It was a season that always claimed many lives, but these years it had been especially taxing. Carts got stuck, cattle died, houses collapsed, it was all in all a terrible situation. With a beginning like this, crown prince Rudolf had a feeling this decade would bring nothing but hardships.

Rudolf, living full-time in Prague since he had been appointed leader of a Czech infantry regiment, had returned to Vienna that February to prepare for his impeding marriage to Stephanie, princess of Belgium. The woman seemed slow and dumb and, compared to Rudolf's mother and sisters, was little more than ugly, but at least she was of equal standing to him and a Catholic, too. Even better, she didn't seem to mind his continuing affairs. He had brought one of his mistresses to their engagement ceremony and Stephanie hadn't so much as batted an eyelid, so Rudolf assumed that no matter how bad things might get with his future wife, he could always feel free to sleep around.

Still, he was worried. He knew how well the marriage of his parents was going, with his mother currently fleeing from her fears in full gallop somewhere in England and his father trying his best to smother his feelings with work. He also knew that he had inherited only his parents' best attributes – his mother's temparament and melancholy and her yearning for freedom, and his father's complete inability to deal with emotions – so he had a feeling his own marriage would in all likelihood end up working just as well as his parents' did.

Whenever he visited Vienna in the winter, Rudolf usually stayed in his personal apartments in the Hofburg Palace in the heart of the city. This year, the stress had herded him out to the parks of Schönbrunn. His father had not been happy with his decision to stay there instead of in the palace, where he would have been close to the emperor's watchful eyes, but his father was almost never happy with his decisions so Rudolf paid it no mind. Thankfully, he had been able to come up with a decent excuse for staying away from the royal family's main residence: the wide parks and lush forests surrounding their summer palace were ideal hunting grounds. Rudolf had a trip coming up later that year that would keep him away from Europe for most of the summer, so he wanted to make up for it by birding and hunting as much as he could during the winter, or at least so he said.

 

Rudolf always felt strange when he returned to Schönbrunn. When he was young, he had spent hours, if not days, losing himself in the tapestry covering the walls of his childhood apartment. Sometimes he wondered if all those strange creatures and exotic birds decorating his rooms were the reason behind his fondness for birds. Even after he had ordered the interior of his apartments to be overhauled, stepping into them still made him feel like he was once again no more than ten years old. No matter how beautifully decorated these rooms were, he gladly took every chance to leave them.

Even before he had properly settled into his apartments, Rudolf had received several letters reminding him that he was to meet with his father in his residence on Monday, the 14th of February, so that they might further discuss the details of his wedding. Rudolf would have rather done anything but that. He hadn't actually had to talk to his father face to face for over a year, and he would rather keep it that way. The last time they had met, Rudolf had ended up storming out of the room in tears.

 

Rudolf spent the night between Sunday and Monday tossing and turning in bed.

The sun had not yet risen when he decided to get up. Maybe an early morning walk, free from all distractions, would help him calm down. If he looked as bad as he felt when he visited his father he might as well just strip himself of all titles and responsibilities right then and there.

The air was clear and cold, swiftly cutting through Rudolf's repetitive thoughts with an icy blade. A full moon hung above the nightly park. Its light reflected off the thick layer of snow that covered everything in sight and lit up the gardens enough for Rudolf to walk their paths without having to carry an additional source of light. Rudolf hurried out of his apartments and into the park, taking care not to wake his servants. Walks all by himself were a rare treat.

The hint of a sunrise was visible on the far horizon, illuminating the Gloriette in all its snow-topped beauty. Rudolf took a sharp turn to the right, his boots already heavy with slush, and walked along the back side of the palace, unintentionally scaring a handful guards that had huddled together instead of standing at their posts, not expecting any passerby (and especially not a royal one) in the early morning hours.

 

The rose gardens still smelled softly of flowers even with their buds hidden, sleeping under layers of fabric to protect them against the cold. Rudolf looked up to the balcony overlooking this area of the park. Behind it lay the apartments the empress occupied on those rare occasions when her wild goose chase through Europe brought her back to her own country. Rudolf's breath hung in the air as he let his eyes glide over the columns and windows of the palace. If he closed his eyes long enough, he could almost imagine his mother standing there, looking over the sea of flowers in the most beautiful dress, her hair waving in a soft summer breeze, looking down at him, and smiling, and he was a child again and he'd look up to her and wave and shout--

“Might I join His Imperial and Royal Highness on his stroll?,” a voice behind him said. Rudolf jumped and spun around. Now standing in front of him was a man he knew very well.

“I missed you!” Rudolf exclaimed. Death smiled and opened his arms and Rudolf fell into them, hugging him like never before. It had been months since he had last seen him.

“I know,” Death replied into his hair. His voice was unusually gentle.

A long moment passed. For the first time this year, Rudolf felt happy. He had not expected his childhood friend to show up, let alone here. The longer Death had stayed away from him, the worse he had felt, but all of the nervousness of the last months, all the stress that had weighed down on him, was gone now. He was safe in Death's arms. Even when Rudolf felt that it was time to let go, they still kept standing entwined, Death's arms around Rudolf's shoulders, Rudolf's hands on Death's waist. Rudolf smiled. It was a sincere smile.

Death looked up at the balcony and Rudolf followed suit. Behind the illuminated windows, the shadowy figures of servants darted about as the palace slowly awoke from its slumber. Rudolf could feel that Death, too, was thinking of Rudolf's mother. The silence between them felt calm and warm.

“I'm worried,” Rudolf said, his gaze still resting on the balcony. Death gave no answer. “I don't know if the marriage is a good idea. Stephanie is nice, but she's boring. And with the amount of work I have to do for the military, I barely have any free time left as it is. When I'm married to her I'll probably end up practically tied to my office chair working day in day out.” Rudolf grimaced and looked at the ground, scraping at the snow with his boots. “Just like my father.”

“At least the uniform suits you,” Death replied, taking his eyes off the balcony and looking at Rudolf. Rudolf, for the first time in what felt like months, laughed.

They turned to leave the rose garden. As they walked through the snowy landscape, Rudolf put his arm around Death's waist, drawing him closer. It wasn't exactly comfortable since Rudolf was already close to freezing and Death's body was cold as ice and therefore didn't exactly help him feel warmer, but he enjoyed in nevertheless. The snow crunched under their boots. Rudolf wondered why Death even wore winter clothes – not that Rudolf minded, the soft leather and fur looked quite nice on Death.

 

They had almost left the garden as Rudolf stopped, making a surprised noise.

“Someone's early,” Rudolf said. He let go of Death's waist and walked over to one of the rose bushes. A flower peeked through the snow, a vibrant spot of color against its white surroundings. It looked lost and fragile. “The very first blossom of the year,” Rudolf whispered as he plucked it gently. He looked at Death and held out his hand, smiling. Death walked to him and accepted the flower.

The second Death's fingers touched the blossom, it turned gray. Rudolf watched with wide eyes as the flower wilted, perishing in Death's grip, its petals losing their color and falling off until nothing but a dead stem was left behind. Rudolf stared at Death's hands, speechless.

“I should have warned you that I'm not very good with flowers,” Death said, breaking the silence. Rudolf blinked and looked up at him. Death looked almost embarrassed. The facial expression was such a strange sight that Rudolf couldn't help but laugh. As Death dropped the withered stem, Rudolf leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

“Let's go to the zoo. I had them buy a pair of diamond doves recently and haven't had a chance to see them,” Rudolf said. He paused and frowned at Death. “Don't you dare touch them.” Death laughed, and Rudolf twined his arm around Death's waist again. “You should join me on my hunting trips. You'd multiply our number of kills by the thousands,” Rudolf chuckled as they continued their walk through the snow-covered park, the rising sun warming them. “And you wouldn't even need a gun.”


End file.
